Random question about classifying

[gldguy1]

So when I'm at the river, I see most people including myself classifying the material using a typical screen into a 5 gallon or 3 gallon bucket. Usually in a 4-5 hour day I myself can run about 15-20 buckets of dirt and maybe 25 after 8 hours( yeh I slow down a lot at the days end). In the documentary film LA miner as well as I have seen others using half a 50 gallon drum, then filling up a plastic milk carton and using that to classify down. Does anyone have thoughts or experience with that method compared to the buckets? Also most people where I'm at in nor cal including myself use a a-52 sluice or something similar. Any feedback would be great.
Thanks

 

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[arizau]

Empty milk carton, bleach bottle, etc. with proper size holes drilled.....cost $0.00, light, one handed operation, can be repeatedly dipped and drained and same end results as a $15.00 classifier. Why didn't I think of that? Only down side is scooping classified material from oil drum. You can probably do same in smaller/easier to handle container like a mortar/panning tub or plastic storage bin.

 

[Goldwasher]

Milk crates not cartons. Milk crate squares are a bit more than an inch.

I only classify to 1/2 inch when I absolutely have to due to lack of flow.

People run their A52s way slower than Keene recommends

Run it fast and as flat as you can. Running golf ball size material whenever you can.

You will run more material and get more gold.

Classifying into a split 55 gal drum makes for quicker classification a larger stockpile of classified material and something easy and durable enough to drag ( notice the ropes they attach)

I also prefer to classify into a large black mortor tub vs. a bucket. More surface area of water makes for faster classifacation

Invest in a durable four tined long handle garden cultivator... my favorite classifier other than a washplant

 

[delnorter]

Ya GW, that 4 tined garden cultivator is the cats meow. I also keep a short handled one in my pack for close quarter raking.

Mike

 

[No gold in NY]

Goldwasher...Just what does Keene recommend? I think I remember talking to Pat Keene. He said drop in a roundish stone just smaller than a golf ball. It should "bump" through the sluice not flush. I've been kinda going with that plus 1" per foot, plus the slickplate V extending to the rubber mat. I guess too, it's all about conditions. I also read here on Tnet that golfball size rocks will dislodge gold.

 

[Goldwasher]

gold settles into the carpet or moss below the expanded. Scour (in the first riffles ) is more of a factor than dislodging. Any bumping or vibration actually settles gold into the carpet or mat.

The Keene book basically says find a good spot, Put sluice in water an inch from the top, feed with shovel. Don't over feed.

A bunch of people on the internet who haven't perfected finding good dirt to sluice.

Have turned it into slow flow, classify to a sub nanometer and make sure to spend your day over a five gallon bucket, oh yea and feed slowly with a teaspoon.

They still blame their poor showing on the sluice box btw.

Yes, you want your material to start slowly off of the flare it will pick up speed through the box with the light tails pushing first including the larger gravels that should be pushed by volume more than speed. The gold even the fines have little chance of lifting into the faster top laminar flow.

You will see the gold pushed away into the moss or carpet under the first riffle and on the inspection matt. Right after the black sands start moving.

Applying commercial worries to stream sluices slows people down and affects their recovery more than anything (other than sluicing dirt with little gold in it)

In my many years of experience. Scour, rocks dislodging gold and the always scary clay ball rolling through your sluice and sucking up gold are equivalent to the boogeyman in your closet.

Over feeding and choking the recovery area between riffles because of improper exchange due to low flow are more of an issue.

Fast, deep water and proper grade coupled with even feed is the way to go when you have water.

 

[Goldwasher]

also I never run at an inch per foot. Normally around 6 degrees

an inch plus drop per foot no way.

I set my sluice based on how the material is going through the box. You want water to clear the recovery areas from exchange not because of the slope.

That's not to say the grade doesn't affect it but, it is a very fine adjustment between rocks hanging up and clogging and them just bouncing through.

Over feeding causes the same issue.

Like Doc recommends to set up to where your box will lose gold then back off a bit. Good advice However its pretty hard to make sluices lose enough gold for you to easily see it and you would have to have it first and know how much etc.

So, go off of the material you are running. Physics really does the rest. Check your tailings after a few buckets worth of material. If you see gold in your pit samples and none or just a fly poop in a pan or two of tailings your doing just fine.

 

[Laz7777]

all great advice, Goldwasher.
I was classifying last year because I had a slow spot to run...bad idea.
there was a lot of black sand in the gravel and it was pushing gold out of the box because of the slow flow. went back to picking rocks out of the box and that ended that problem.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

also I never run at an inch per foot. Normally around 6 degrees

an inch plus drop per foot no way.

I set my sluice based on how the material is going through the box. You want water to clear the recovery areas from exchange not because of the slope.

That's not to say the grade doesn't affect it but, it is a very fine adjustment between rocks hanging up and clogging and them just bouncing through.

Over feeding causes the same issue.

Like Doc recommends to set up to where your box will lose gold then back off a bit. Good advice However its pretty hard to make sluices lose enough gold for you to easily see it and you would have to have it first and know how much etc.

So, go off of the material you are running. Physics really does the rest. Check your tailings after a few buckets worth of material. If you see gold in your pit samples and none or just a fly poop in a pan or two of tailings your doing just fine.

1"/12" is 4.76*. 6* is 1.26"/12
Jim

 

[goldenmojo]

So when I'm at the river, I see most people including myself classifying the material using a typical screen into a 5 gallon or 3 gallon bucket. Usually in a 4-5 hour day I myself can run about 15-20 buckets of dirt and maybe 25 after 8 hours( yeh I slow down a lot at the days end). In the documentary film LA miner as well as I have seen others using half a 50 gallon drum, then filling up a plastic milk carton and using that to classify down. Does anyone have thoughts or experience with that method compared to the buckets? Also most people where I'm at in nor cal including myself use a a-52 sluice or something similar. Any feedback would be great.
Thanks[/QUOTE]


Here is a Bear River Special. It was well used on the East Fork and then given to me by BlackMatt. I used it in this pic as a transport moving better pay to my bazooka so there was no classifying just straight in shoveling of what you see in the tub. When I do use the tub for classifying I throw a couple of big cobble in the bottom and sink it in the water. I then place a 2x4 frame that is large enough to go across the tub and it has a piece expanded metal lagged to the bottom of the frame. With the frame underwater also it is easy to load 6-8 shovel loads onto it and rock and shake it clean in 30 seconds, then a quick lift to dump it. I will drag it across a cobble bar if the material is really good but I usually just float it downstream. All the gear packs into the tub and I drag it across the parking lot back to the truck.

 

[Goldwasher]

1"/12" is 4.76*. 6* is 1.26"/12
Jim

you are right But with a yard stick I'm under an inch a foot Now I wish my stand was here so I can double check lol.

 

[Goldwasher]

1"/12" is 4.76*. 6* is 1.26"/12
Jim

You know Jim math on paper proves you right... I was guessing as I don't have a real clinometer. Last time I set a level line on my stand I used a tape and set the line level giving me about 2.5 inches from Head to tail total trop so under a foot per inch and checked with a phone app to see and it told me 5*

I don't build roofs that's for sure

I should have said 6%

My sweet spot sluice angle is 3 to 4* which is what? 5 to 7 % not degrees like I said.

Thanks for pointing that out. Right idea wrong word and in slope measurements that matters. Good catch.

I still run sub inch a foot, phew....wipes brow

 

[No gold in NY]

Now you are confusing me with all this math. I think I have a clinometer. I used it to set pitch on my home built airplane propellers. So bottom line is less than 1" per foot and enough water to exchange properly?

 

[arizau]

Maybe not pertinent for all sluices but..... Doc at Goldhog suggests a starting angle that clears most everything to begin with then adjust it up to the point where it is just filling the rifles. I imagine that different stream speeds contribute to the final angle that is best at that time. I use his mats and that is what I do.

Good luck all

 

[mytimetoshine]

I dont get the whole drum thing. I see how its benificial to some but for me it would just slow things down. Im only going to haul pay a certain distance. Other wise its counter productive. I can just pan next to the dig and get more gold. Seems like most people dont like to or dont believe in "production panning". Keep in mind that A52, Bazooka, slow or fast classifeied or unclassified does not come anywhere close to the recover % of a pan in skilled hands. If i am hauling, id rather have a 2gal bucket in each hand. Seems to be the best for me. You cant haul very fast when your hip deep in water so idk..

 

[goldenmojo]

I dont get the whole drum thing. I see how its benificial to some but for me it would just slow things down. Im only going to haul pay a certain distance. Other wise its counter productive. I can just pan next to the dig and get more gold. Seems like most people dont like to or dont believe in "production panning". Keep in mind that A52, Bazooka, slow or fast classifeied or unclassified does not come anywhere close to the recover % of a pan in skilled hands. If i am hauling, id rather have a 2gal bucket in each hand. Seems to be the best for me. You cant haul very fast when your hip deep in water so idk..

True it is a specific use item as are most tools and as you know I will choose a pan even over a sluice most of the time. The only tool I would add to my arsenal now is one that could free up enough of my time to go mining.

 

[mytimetoshine]

True it is a specific use item as are most tools and as you know I will choose a pan even over a sluice most of the time. The only tool I would add to my arsenal now is one that could free up enough of my time to go mining.

Havent heard from you recently. Hope all is well.

 

[Goldwasher]

Now you are confusing me with all this math. I think I have a clinometer. I used it to set pitch on my home built airplane propellers. So bottom line is less than 1" per foot and enough water to exchange properly?

yea one wrong word and symbol and its in the weeds we go.

Yes less than an inch and Az is right like I said set it to how it is running material.

 

[Goldwasher]

Sluice boxes are not losing a significant amount of gold vs. panning.

When I speak of sluicing it is when sluicing is warranted. It's true sluicing when it isn't the right thing to do is wheel spinning.

I rarely ever sluice on a river its a hassle. Unless there is no bedrock. I would never pan for production on the Bear and rarely fuss with a sluice on the American.

On my claim it's a creek and I will not carry buckets more than thirty feet EVER. I throw , rake and roll more rock than I will ever carry. There is gold in the top layers enough to warrant sluicing. I am not losing ten percent.

Once I sluice the top layers and move the tailings down stream with the sluice I detail the cracks with hand tools and detector. The bulk of my gold is recovered after sluicing comes first with a snuffer , second fingers or the tip of a screw driver third my pan.

Sluice boxes were invented to run material that wouldn't pay with a pan. Every piece of gear that gets bigger from there up makes it possible to run lower grade material and profit. When used to run richer material it is absolutely ideal.

But, it can still be done wrong.

It still depend mainly on the dirt you dig.

Oh yea when the water is to slow too sluice with stream flow. I'm running a power sluice . It classifies to 1/2 with flat slate thrown in. I apply the same principle to getting it to run properly. Again I do not get high loss in my tailings ever. You have to have good flow and a riffle set up or under current to deal with flakes of slate and discs of serpentine at 40 to 50 gpm. In ten inch sluice runs.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Aaahh...you know the angle doesn't mean much. You set it for the material you're running, and the size of gold you expect to recover, and the angle is what it is. But, if the manufacturer gives you an angle for a starting point, it's nice to know the math to get the angle right. I usually have a calculator in the truck, and all I do is decide what angle I want, and enter that angle in the calculator, and hit TANGENT, or TAN. That gives you a decimal, and you multiply that decimal x 12, and you have the inches of slope of slope per foot, at the correct angle. Pretty simple really. I think 5, or 6* is a pretty good starting point, myself.
I think what Arizau said, in #14 is right on the mark!
Jim